APTrust exists to provide academic libraries with shared, trusted, and cost-effective digital preservation infrastructure. Fulfilling that mission over the long term requires that the organization remain financially sustainable and that members can rely on APTrust being here for their collections, year after year and decade after decade.

After the most thorough financial analysis in APTrust's history, and following nearly a year of discussion with our Advisory Committee and Governing Board, APTrust is announcing updated fees for sustaining membership and preservation storage. These changes were formally approved by the APTrust Governing Board on February 10, 2026.

We recognize that this comes at a challenging time for academic libraries broadly, and we do not take any fee increase lightly. This post explains what is changing, why it is necessary, how the fees were determined, and what members can expect during the transition.

What Is Changing

The table below shows current fees alongside the new rates taking effect in 2027–2028. APTrust's original membership fee was established in 2012 and has never been adjusted, making those fees worth roughly 25% less in 2026.

All storage fees are assessed per gigabyte and billed annually. APTrust continues to measure preservation storage using the binary calculation method (1 TB = 1,024 GB), and the 10 TB storage allowance included in sustaining membership is unchanged.

Why These Changes Are Necessary

In early 2024, APTrust undertook a thorough analysis of the Total Ownership Cost of providing preservation storage, examining not only raw cloud storage costs, but the full infrastructure overhead required to operate a secure, compliant, and reliable preservation service. This includes cloud monitoring and security services, container orchestration, database infrastructure, operational software, and technical support contracts, among many other components.

The analysis revealed something that had been obscured for years: APTrust has been losing money on preservation storage, particularly in the Basic and Deep Archive classes. The cost recovery rates prior to this fee adjustment tell a clear story:

In FY25 (July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025), APTrust collected $35,313 in storage fees while incurring over $103,000 in cloud infrastructure costs, a gap that has long been offset by operational support from APTrust's host institution, the University of Virginia. A recent reduction in that support, combined with ongoing growth in operating costs, has resulted in budget deficits that require a structural response.

The problem is compounded by the fact that Deep Archive, the tier where APTrust recovers the least cost, has become the most widely used storage class in the network. This means that as the community's preservation footprint has grown, the financial gap has widened proportionally.

The new fees are set at or near full cost-recovery levels, bringing APTrust to a financially sustainable and equitable model in which what members pay aligns with the real costs of preserving their collections.

How the Fees Were Determined

APTrust developed a formal Overhead Cost Model that calculates a per-gigabyte overhead rate by accounting for all operational support technology costs, cloud infrastructure overhead, and business support costs, distributed across total membership storage. The model was first validated in 2024 and again in 2025, on both occasions proving to be an accurate predictor of actual costs. Annual model updates are now a standard operational practice for monitoring cost recovery rates.

The new storage fees were set using this model to reach 100% cost recovery for each storage tier. Rather than pricing beyond cost recovery, APTrust's goal is equitable, sustainable, and predictable cost-sharing across the membership: not profit generation.

The membership fee adjustment reflects the erosion of the original fee's real value since 2012 and positions APTrust to cover the labor, community engagement, and operational costs that membership fees are designed to support.

A Community-Led Process

These changes did not emerge behind closed doors. The work began at the Spring 2025 Member Meeting, where APTrust staff presented the cost modeling methodology, walked through the implications of reduced hosting support, and explored multiple financial scenarios with membership. That conversation continued through subsequent Board meetings and the Fall 2025 Member Meeting. The Advisory Committee reviewed the data and proposed timeline, and the Governing Board approved the final fee schedule on February 10, 2026.

This process reflects APTrust's commitment to governance by and for its member community. Fees proposed by the Executive Director, reviewed by the Advisory Committee, and approved by the Governing Board: this is how APTrust makes decisions of consequence.

Implementation Timeline

APTrust is committed to giving members sufficient time to incorporate these changes into their budget planning cycles. No fee changes take effect this fiscal year. The implementation is structured to provide maximum advance notice:

For the next two to three years, during this transition, as new fees phase in, operating deficits will be covered by APTrust's reserve funds. APTrust maintains reserves sufficient to sustain operations and, if necessary, to conduct an orderly wind-down and return of all member content. Drawing on reserves during a deliberate transition to cost-recovery pricing is an appropriate and responsible use of those funds.

We Acknowledge This Is a Difficult Moment

Higher education is navigating significant financial pressure, and we understand that any fee increase adds to the burden libraries are already managing. We did not make this decision quickly, and we did not set fees beyond what our cost modeling shows is necessary.

Digital preservation is only meaningful if the infrastructure sustaining it persists. These fee changes are how APTrust ensures it remains here for the long term.

There is also reason for optimism in the longer view. APTrust's cost model is a shared one: the more members participating, the more broadly infrastructure costs are distributed. Financial projections show that even modest membership growth, adding one new institution every two years, could be sufficient to revisit and lower the membership fee within five to eight years. Growing the network is not just good for the community; it is a direct path to making APTrust more affordable for everyone in it. If you know of institutions that would benefit from shared preservation infrastructure, we welcome those conversations.

What Members Should Do Now

No action is required immediately. Members can begin incorporating the new membership fee ($25,000) into budget planning for FY28, and should anticipate adjusted storage fees beginning with FY29 invoices. APTrust will send individualized estimates to each member showing what the new storage rates would mean for their current usage, so there are no surprises.

In the meantime, APTrust has also launched a Storage Cost Calculator that lets you model costs under both the current and new fee schedules using your own storage figures. It is available now and is a useful tool for budget planning. A fuller announcement will follow, but members are welcome to explore the calculator today.

Questions, concerns, or requests for member-specific cost estimates are welcome. Please reach out to the APTrust Executive Director or raise questions at an upcoming member meeting.

The updated Services and Fees page reflects the new schedule.

This fee schedule was approved by the APTrust Governing Board on February 10, 2026. APTrust fees are proposed by the Executive Director, reviewed by the Advisory Committee, and approved by the Governing Board. Member feedback on fees and services is always welcome. All fiscal year (FY) references in this post reflect APTrust's fiscal year, which runs July 1 through June 30.

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